During the World War II, she participated in the neutrality watch and escorted merchant ships along the Swedish east coast.

In the context of the neutrality watch, she therefore participated in the pursuit of Soviet submarines who broke out of the Gulf of Finland in search of merchant ships.

[6] At the outbreak of World War II, Nordenskjöld's steam boilers were in such a bad condition that they needed replacements, but when the Swedish Navy suffered a shortage of ships, this had to be postponed.

Only at the Epiphany weekend of 1940 was the boiler changed at Götaverken, and on 18 April that year the ship could be put back to service in the Gothenburg Squadron.

[7] In September 1940, the Nordenskjöld escorted the Swedish tanker MT Sveadrott through the barrier that went through Skagerrak during World War II.

[8] To allow the passage, the belligerent demanded that the ship was to be escorted through the Skagerrak by Swedish warship, which would serve as a guarantee that no side would try to capture her.

At the end of August, blue-yellow bands were painted on the bow and the stern on the destroyer and searchlights was mounted which illuminated ship's facade.

In the evening of 5 September, the ships encountered Sveadrott in the North Sea between Bergen and the Shetland Islands, and the home trip began.

A British reconnaissance plane and a large number of German bombers were sighted during the trip, but none of them attacked and on 8 September the convoy arrived to Gothenburg.

[10] From 1941 and the rest of the war, Nordenskjöld was included in the Karlskrona Squadron, which was part of the South Coast Military District (Sydkustens militärdistrikt).